Sentinel staff report–
Update: A divided Citrus Heights council narrowly voted Thursday to extend a contract with Redflex Traffic Systems to provide red light cameras in the city for another five years.
Mayor Steve Miller, Vice Mayor Porsche Middleton, and Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins voted in favor of the renewing the camera contract, while councilmen Bret Daniels and Tim Schaefer voted against.
Original story: The City Council on Thursday will consider renewing a contract with an Arizona-based company to continue a controversial red light camera enforcement program in Citrus Heights, but with the changing makeup of the council in recent years the outcome of the vote this time could result in the program being discontinued.
Following initial adoption of a red light camera program in 2007, the council voted unanimously in 2015 to renew its contract with Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc., followed by a 4-1 vote to add cameras at several more intersections in 2017.
Two new members have since joined the council, with one on record opposing red light cameras and the other not having publicly stated a position, leaving the decision a likely 3-2 split of either support or opposition to the red light camera program unless one or more council members have changed their minds on the matter.
Mayor Steve Miller and Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins both voted in favor of the 2015 renewal, while Councilman Bret Daniels voted against adding more cameras in 2017 and Vice Mayor Porsche Middleton stated opposition to the cameras during her campaign for office in 2018.
In her statement three years ago, Middleton said “red-light cameras have been proven to be ineffective and only serve to send our tax dollars outside of the city as most of the fine goes to a private company.” She said the city’s goal to reduce collisions “can be accomplished with continued DUI enforcement, targeted traffic enforcement and motorist, pedestrian and distracted driving education.”
Daniels has also listed removing red light cameras as one of the top changes he’d like to see in the city, noting a 2015 Grand Jury report that criticized the city’s red light camera program.
The council’s newest member, Tim Schaefer, is not on record with a prior public statement of where he stands on the cameras. In response to a request for comment on Saturday, the councilman said he was legally prevented from giving his position on an agendized item but said he had done “extensive research” on the topic and has several questions for staff about the agenda item.
Do red light cameras help reduce collisions?
Council members in favor of the cameras have said they support the program because of a documented drop in collisions at intersections with the cameras in place.
Bruins previously said she received a red light ticket in the city for rolling through a right turn on red during the first year cameras were activated in 2008. “I paid my fine, went to traffic school, and have been stopping at red lights ever since,” she said.
Daniels on the other hand, who has a law enforcement background as a former Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy, has said he’s “not convinced red light cameras make things safer,” and questions statistics showing a drop in collisions.
As previously reported by The Sentinel, collision data on red light camera effectiveness indicates mixed results.
A growing number of California cities have discontinued using red light cameras, citing a variety of reasons including cost and a lack of conclusive evidence that collisions were reduced. The state of Texas also banned red light cameras in 2019, with lawmakers citing privacy and constitutional concerns. In Connecticut, the ACLU and NAACP also joined together to oppose an effort to bring red light cameras to the state, citing due process concerns and impacts to minorities.
In nearby Roseville, the city dropped its red light contract in 2009 after traffic surveys couldn’t find enough potential red light violators to make the system pay for itself unless the city opted to include right-turn-on-red violations, according to the Roseville Press-Tribune.
A report obtained by The Sentinel through a prior public records request showed over 55% of the 5,387 red light camera citations issued in Citrus Heights in 2015 were for right turns on red.
The City of Gardena in Southern California also dropped its red light camera program, with its mayor citing cost and “the lack of evidence that the program is in fact being effective,” according to area news reports. The cities of Davis and Rocklin also discontinued using red light cameras over cost concerns, although Rocklin officials said its program had been effective in reducing collisions.
In Citrus Heights, collision data presented by police in 2017 showed a drop in total collisions at all intersections with red light cameras, ranging from a 5% drop at Auburn Boulevard and Greenback Lane to a 65% drop at Sunrise Boulevard and Oak Avenue. The data compared three and five year periods before and after the installation of cameras.
However, despite the drop in overall collisions, police statistics showed the number of injury collisions actually increased by 12% to 25% at the majority of the seven intersections in Citrus Heights where red light cameras were installed at that time. For example, there were a total of four less collisions reported at the intersection at Auburn/Greenback, but the number of injury collisions rose by five (from 26 to 31) over the four-year period studied.
See local collision data: Click here
Asked about the reason for the injury increase, a police lieutenant at the time told The Sentinel it’s “too hard to pinpoint why there would be more injuries at an intersection.” He said a possible reason could be that a single collision where multiple occupants were injured would be categorized as multiple injuries. But the injury increase has also been a trend noted in other cities.
A red light camera study commissioned by the Chicago Tribune found a similar rise in injury collisions after the cameras were implemented in the city of Chicago, along with an overall drop in the total number of collisions. The 2015 study found a 22% increase in injury rear-end collisions occurred after red light cameras were installed, apparently caused by drivers hitting the brakes to avoid getting a red light ticket.
Collision data from Citrus Heights also came under question in a 2015 Sacramento County Grand Jury report that found “the actual reduction in accidents cannot be verified,” due to what it called inaccurate and inconsistent collision data provided by the Police Department. The report also said the city “chronically and systematically ignores its own policies for oversight, testing, monitoring, maintenance and record keeping.”
In official responses to the grand jury’s report, the Police Department disputed the Grand Jury finding on collision data and other items, but said the city had internally corrected several aspects regarding maintenance, testing and regular data analysis.
Document: read the Grand Jury report
Redflex itself has also been the target of federal prosecutors, with its former chief executive officer being sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution for paying bribes to a city official in Chicago for nearly a decade, according to a 2016 news release from the United States Department of Justice.
“As the CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., Karen Finley would funnel cash and other financial benefits to the city official… in exchange for improper assistance in awarding city red-light camera contracts to Redflex,” justice department officials said. In a subsequent agreement, the DOJ said Redflex has since “agreed to adopt new policies to ensure that it maintains a rigorous anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance code, and to install procedures designed to detect and deter violations of such laws.”
If a renewal with Redflex is approved during the June 24 council meeting, the term will be extended by five years, beginning Aug. 1, 2021. The proposed extension agreement would also include installation of Redflex’s upgraded Halo 2.0 camera system, along with an upgrade to the company’s Alcyon back-office system.
According to the proposed agreement, the city would save $55,200 per year, due to a renegotiated fixed monthly fee paid to Redflex of $4,100 per month per intersection approach, compared with the current contract rate of $4,560 per approach.
Over a one-year period that would mean the city would pay Redflex $492,000 per year, but under a “cost neutrality” agreement with Citrus Heights, Redflex cannot receive any money until the city covers its own costs. The current contract specifies that the first $8,500 in revenue generated from tickets each month goes to the city to cover operational costs, which includes staff time for “evaluation of photos and video to determine violations, issue citations, attend court proceedings, system audits, and training,” according to a prior staff report.
For more, see story: How much money do red light cameras actually make?
The city’s revised agreement with Redflex in 2015 appears to have authorized an extension for a period of three years, but was then extended without additional council action in subsequent years. Lieutenant Jason Baldwin told The Sentinel on Saturday that the original contract allowed for a series of renewals and said a 1-year extension was made by Redflex last year, but the city is now on “month to month.”
Public comments for the council’s upcoming June 24 meeting can be submitted to cityclerk@citrusheights.net, with up to 250 words. Those interested in joining the council meeting via Zoom can find links posted in the council’s agenda packet. (click here)
See prior story: Citrus Heights to add more red light cameras at intersections, but do they work?
